Help & Support

CUNNTAS has been designed to provide help where it is needed: inside the platform, alongside the function the User is actually trying to use.

Accounting, payroll, VAT, Corporation Tax, banking and financial administration inevitably involve terminology and processes that will not be familiar to every User. CUNNTAS therefore combines contextual Help, important Warnings, structured support resources and controlled access to support personnel within the same platform.

Our objective is not simply to provide software and leave Users to work out how it operates.

It is to provide an accounting platform that can explain itself, identify matters requiring particular attention and provide appropriate assistance when a User needs more help.

1. Help Built into CUNNTAS

CUNNTAS provides contextual Help (?) throughout the platform.

Where a field, function or accounting term requires explanation, the User can access information directly alongside the relevant part of the interface.

This means a User should not ordinarily need to leave the task they are performing simply to discover what an unfamiliar field means.

Help information is designed to explain both what a function does and, where appropriate, why the information is required.

2. Contextual Help

A Help (?) indicator appears where additional explanation may be useful.

Depending upon the function, Help information may explain:

• Accounting terminology
• Payroll terminology
• VAT treatment
• Corporation Tax functions
• Banking and reconciliation
• Organisation settings
• Form fields
• System processes
• Security functions
• User permissions

The purpose is to provide concise assistance at the point where the User encounters the question.

3. Help Without Cluttering the Interface

Displaying an explanation permanently beside every field would make an accounting platform difficult to use.

CUNNTAS therefore keeps contextual Help available without filling every screen with instructions.

The User can access additional information when it is needed while experienced Users can continue working without unnecessary explanatory text occupying the workspace.

This balance is an important part of the CUNNTAS interface design.

4. Warnings Are Different from Help

CUNNTAS distinguishes between Help (?) and Warning (!) information.

A Help indicator explains something.

A Warning indicator identifies something that requires particular attention.

This distinction matters.

An unfamiliar accounting term may require an explanation. An action that could affect a VAT Return, payroll record, banking connection or permanent financial document may require a warning.

CUNNTAS does not treat those two situations as though they were the same.

5. Warning Information

Warning (!) indicators are used where the User should understand an important consequence, limitation or risk before proceeding.

A Warning may relate to matters such as:

• Financial consequences
• Permanent records
• Banking information
• Tax or payroll implications
• Security
• User access
• Irreversible or restricted actions
• Information that could not be independently verified

The objective is to make important information visible at the point where it can influence the User's decision.

6. Support Content

CUNNTAS maintains structured Support Content that can be used throughout the platform.

This allows explanations to be managed centrally rather than repeatedly embedding different versions of the same guidance into individual pages.

Central management also allows support information to develop as CUNNTAS changes.

Where a function is updated, the associated Help information can be updated with it.

7. Consistent Guidance

Accounting terminology should not mean one thing on one CUNNTAS page and something different elsewhere.

Centrally managed Help and Warning information helps provide consistency across the platform.

The same underlying concept can therefore be explained consistently wherever it appears while still allowing context-specific information where necessary.

8. Support Centre

Where contextual Help is not sufficient, CUNNTAS provides a broader Support Centre.

The Support Centre is intended to bring together support requests, guidance and the facilities required to obtain assistance with the platform.

This provides a structured route for issues that cannot be resolved through the Help information available directly within a page.

9. Support Requests

Users can seek assistance when they encounter a problem with CUNNTAS.

A useful support request should identify the Organisation concerned, the function being used and the nature of the issue.

Where appropriate, platform information can help support personnel understand the environment in which the problem occurred without requiring the User to reconstruct every technical detail manually.

10. Support Without Sharing Your Password

A CUNNTAS User should never need to give a support representative their password in order to obtain assistance.

Passwords, Authenticator credentials and Recovery Codes are personal security credentials and should not be shared with support personnel.

Where investigation requires access to an Organisation's workspace, CUNNTAS provides a controlled mechanism for that purpose.

11. Protected Support Access

CUNNTAS includes a Protected Support Access system.

This allows temporary access to be provided where a support issue genuinely requires an authorised member of the CUNNTAS support team to inspect the relevant Organisation or function.

The system is designed around:

• User approval
• Temporary access
• Controlled permissions
• Defined support activity
• Auditability

Support personnel should not require unrestricted permanent access to every customer Organisation merely because they may occasionally need to investigate a problem.

12. Positive User Consent

Protected Support Access is based upon positive User consent.

Where User authorisation is required, support access should not simply be activated without the appropriate approval.

This allows the Organisation to remain aware of and involved in the decision to provide temporary access to its financial workspace.

13. One-Time Codes

Where applicable, CUNNTAS Support Access can use one-time verification codes as part of the process for establishing an authorised support session.

A one-time code provides a defined authorisation mechanism without requiring the User to disclose their ordinary CUNNTAS credentials.

The code is intended for the relevant support process rather than becoming a permanent alternative method of accessing the Organisation.

14. Temporary Access

Support access is intended to be temporary.

The fact that an Organisation once authorised assistance with a particular issue should not provide permanent unrestricted access for every future support enquiry.

Once the authorised access period or purpose ends, the corresponding support access should no longer provide continuing access to the Organisation.

15. Approved Support Processes

CUNNTAS support personnel should use approved support processes when interacting with Users and Organisations.

This helps ensure that support requests involving security, financial information or Organisation access are handled consistently.

It also reduces the risk of a User being asked to perform inappropriate actions or disclose credentials that legitimate CUNNTAS support does not require.

16. Auditability of Support Access

Support activity involving protected Organisation access can form part of the CUNNTAS audit record.

This helps establish when support access was authorised and provides accountability for activity undertaken through the support mechanism.

Support access should not become an invisible route into an Organisation's financial information.

17. Your Data During Support

Providing support does not transfer ownership of an Organisation's information to CUNNTAS.

Information accessed during an authorised support process remains subject to the same data-protection, confidentiality and security principles applicable elsewhere in the platform.

Support personnel should access only the information reasonably required to investigate or resolve the authorised issue.

18. Security Support

Support may involve account or security matters.

Users should contact CUNNTAS promptly where they believe that:

• Their account may have been compromised
• An unfamiliar User has access to an Organisation
• A trusted browser is no longer under their control
• Their authentication information may have been exposed
• They identify unexpected account activity

Security concerns may require different action from an ordinary question about using a feature.

19. Two-Factor Authentication Support

Two-Factor Authentication is mandatory for CUNNTAS Users.

Support may assist a User with understanding the authentication process, trusted browsers and Recovery Codes.

Support personnel should not ask a User to disclose a current Authenticator code or Recovery Code merely so that the support representative can sign into the User's account as that User.

Authentication credentials exist to establish the User's identity and must remain protected.

20. Recovery Codes

Users receive Recovery Codes when Two-Factor Authentication is established.

These codes should be stored securely because they provide a means of recovering access where the Authenticator device becomes unavailable.

Support cannot guarantee recovery of an account merely because a User has failed to retain the security information provided to them.

Appropriate identity and security checks may be required where normal authentication methods are unavailable.

21. Banking Support

Banking and Open Banking connections sometimes require support because a financial institution, connection or authorisation needs attention.

CUNNTAS can assist with the operation of its banking functions, but support cannot control the availability or behaviour of a bank or external Open Banking provider.

Where the issue originates with an external provider, CUNNTAS may need to identify that fact and provide the information available rather than pretending that the platform can directly correct the external service.

22. Missing Banking Information

Not every bank or branch makes every possible banking identifier available through every validation or connection service.

For example, certain BIC/SWIFT or IBAN information may not be independently available even where the underlying bank account is valid.

CUNNTAS distinguishes between information that cannot be verified and information that has positively failed validation.

Help and Warning facilities can explain this distinction where it arises.

23. Accounting Support

CUNNTAS Help can explain how platform functions operate and how accounting information is represented within the system.

There is nevertheless an important distinction between software support and professional accounting or tax advice.

The availability of a CUNNTAS function does not mean that every possible accounting or tax judgement can be determined by software alone.

Where an Organisation requires professional judgement about its particular circumstances, appropriate professional advice may be required.

24. Payroll Support

Payroll support can assist Users with understanding and operating CUNNTAS Payroll functions.

Payroll can involve statutory requirements, employee-specific circumstances and information supplied by HMRC or other relevant bodies.

CUNNTAS provides the platform and supported calculations, records and filing processes, but the employing Organisation remains responsible for providing accurate information and meeting its obligations as an employer.

25. VAT and Making Tax Digital Support

CUNNTAS provides contextual guidance throughout VAT and Making Tax Digital functions.

Help may explain VAT periods, VAT treatments, group structures, HMRC authorisation, return preparation and filing processes.

Warnings can identify matters requiring attention before a VAT action is completed.

Where a transaction requires specialist VAT judgement, software Help should not be treated as a substitute for appropriate tax advice.

26. Corporation Tax Support

CUNNTAS is being designed to support Corporation Tax administration and filing for eligible UK companies together with applicable group-related tax functionality.

Help information can explain how the CUNNTAS Corporation Tax workflow operates and the information required by the platform.

Complex Corporation Tax matters may nevertheless require professional judgement beyond ordinary software support.

27. Organisation and Group Support

A CUNNTAS User may manage one Organisation or several related Organisations.

Support facilities can therefore distinguish the particular Organisation to which an issue relates.

Where companies form part of a VAT or corporate group, support can also consider the relevant group relationship without treating the underlying Organisations as though they were one set of accounting records.

28. Technical Support

Some issues are technical rather than accounting-related.

These may involve:

• Page behaviour
• Browser compatibility
• Connections
• System messages
• Document generation
• Authentication
• Imports
• External service communication
• Other platform functionality

CUNNTAS support can investigate technical issues affecting the operation of the platform.

29. Platform Monitoring

CUNNTAS includes administrative tools for monitoring important aspects of platform operation.

Platform Health, event information, communications failures and other operational information can assist support and administration personnel in identifying problems.

This means investigation does not depend solely upon the description supplied by the User.

30. Interface Standards

CUNNTAS also contains an internal Interface Standards system.

This examines important structural relationships involving application routes, database requirements, views and services.

Certain structural inconsistencies can therefore be identified before an ordinary User encounters the affected function.

This provides support personnel with an additional source of information when maintaining the platform.

31. Support Content Develops with CUNNTAS

CUNNTAS will continue to develop.

New accounting, payroll, banking, tax and administrative functions will require corresponding Help and support information.

Because support content forms part of the platform architecture, guidance can develop alongside the functions to which it relates.

The objective is for new functionality to arrive with appropriate explanation rather than leaving Users to discover how it works through trial and error.

32. Help for New Users

CUNNTAS is designed to be usable by people who understand their businesses without requiring every User to be an accountant or payroll specialist.

Contextual Help can therefore explain unfamiliar terminology and processes as an Organisation establishes its accounts and begins using the platform.

The aim is not to remove proper accounting principles.

It is to make those principles more understandable.

33. Help for Experienced Users

Experienced Users should not be forced through unnecessary tutorials every time they perform a familiar task.

CUNNTAS keeps Help available when required without making it a permanent obstacle to completing work.

This allows accountants, bookkeepers and experienced business Users to work efficiently while the same interface remains accessible to Users who need additional explanation.

34. Support and Data Protection

Support activity is subject to the data-protection principles described in the CUNNTAS Privacy Policy and Data Protection & Your Data.

Mayside Partners Limited, trading as CUNNTAS, is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office for data protection purposes.

Access to personal or Organisation information during support should be limited to what is reasonably necessary for the authorised purpose.

35. What Support Will Never Legitimately Need

Users should be cautious if anybody claiming to represent CUNNTAS asks for information that legitimate support should not require.

CUNNTAS support should not require a User to disclose their password, provide unrestricted access to their personal email account, or hand over Authenticator or Recovery credentials simply so that somebody can impersonate the User.

Where controlled Organisation access is necessary, the CUNNTAS Support Access mechanism exists for that purpose.

36. Support Is Included

Access to the standard CUNNTAS Help and platform-support facilities forms part of the normal CUNNTAS subscription.

Contextual Help, Warning information and ordinary platform support are not premium features reserved for a more expensive subscription.

Where separately commissioned professional, consultancy, bookkeeping, accounting, tax or bespoke technical services are requested outside the normal platform support service, any additional service and charge would be agreed before that work is undertaken.

37. Helping Users Help Themselves

The most efficient support interaction is often the one that does not need to become a support ticket.

By placing Help alongside unfamiliar functions, identifying important Warnings before an action is taken and providing structured guidance within the platform, CUNNTAS can answer many questions at the moment they arise.

This saves the User time while allowing support personnel to concentrate on issues that genuinely require investigation.

38. When You Need More Help

When contextual Help does not answer the question, the broader CUNNTAS support facilities provide the next level of assistance.

Where necessary, support can investigate the issue using available platform information.

If inspection of the Organisation's workspace is genuinely required, Protected Support Access provides a controlled route for authorised temporary access.

The process therefore progresses from:

Contextual Help to Structured Support to, where genuinely necessary, Authorised Protected Support Access.

39. The CUNNTAS Approach to Support

Our approach can be summarised simply:

• Explain functions where the User encounters them.
• Warn Users when something requires particular attention.
• Provide structured assistance when Help is not enough.
• Never ask Users to surrender their normal security credentials for support.
• Use controlled, temporary access when investigation genuinely requires it.
• Record important support access so that it remains accountable.
• Protect Organisation information throughout the process.

Support should make CUNNTAS easier to use without weakening the security and integrity of the platform.

40. Included in the CUNNTAS Subscription

CUNNTAS Help and standard platform-support facilities are included within the £30 per Organisation per month, plus VAT subscription.

The same service includes the integrated bookkeeping, accounting, banking, VAT and Making Tax Digital, Corporation Tax, payroll, reporting, security and financial administration environment.

Help when you need it. Warnings when they matter. Controlled support when assistance requires more.

The name CUNNTAS is pronounced “KOON-tas”. It comes from the Scottish Gaelic word cunntas, meaning “account”, “accounts”, “accounting” or “reckoning” — a name that reflects both the purpose of the platform and its Scottish identity.

Last Updated: 10 August 2026